Trademarks in China are administratively assigned to the appropriate classes of goods or services in accordance with the international classification. A trademark transfer agreement in China must therefore contain a precise indication of the number under which the trademark in question has been registered and a precise indication of the class of goods. As Trademark Partners, we also assist our clients in drafting contracts for the transfer of trademark rights in China, ensuring its completeness and correctness, and we also take responsibility for ongoing contact with the authorities. The Chinese Patent Office has significantly accelerated the processing of direct trademark transfer applications in recent years. If the application signed by both parties to the transaction does not contain any formal defects, the new owner of the trademark should receive an official decision on the transfer of protection rights within six months from the date of submission of the application.
If the registration of a trademark in China was done by direct application to the Chinese Patent Office, the procedure for transferring the rights to the trademark should be done in the same way. The transfer of trademark rights in China is then formalized by submitting an appropriate application signed by both parties involved in the transaction. It should be noted that each party has the right to be represented at the time of filing the application. In the case of legal entities, this means that it is necessary for them to have an active status, in other words, to be legally operating companies that had the right to make a declaration of intent on the date of submitting the application for the transfer of rights to a trademark.
The Chinese Patent Office issues a trademark registration certificate – each time at the request of the owner disclosed at a given moment in the trademark register. In the case of the procedure related to the transfer of rights to a brand, the relevant application should be submitted to the appropriate office immediately after the decision on the transfer of the right to the trademark is issued. These formalities are carried out through a professional representative, and the certificate itself is usually issued after about two months from the date of submitting the application to the office.
Most importantly, the process of transferring trademark rights under Chinese law requires the involvement of a professional attorney. It is therefore necessary to act with the assistance of a qualified intermediary in order to complete the transfer process. At Trademark Partners, we have many years of experience in dealing with the Chinese authorities and we know how to handle this process quickly, efficiently and to the benefit of your business.
The process of transferring the right to a trademark usually takes place between two
parties who are related in a specific way. For example, two companies may have a
common investor or common capital. Trademark transfer in China also occurs when a
company is acquired by another company, if the trademark is also acquired. It should be
remembered that the reputation of a brand is now often the basis for its valuation, and a
company’s logo has great value.
